Practice
by Booksong
Summary: Sokka tries to engage the Gaang in a scripted preparation for the final battle. But after seeing the Ember Island Players, everyone has already formed an opinion on THAT. Just some fun Gaang shenanigans and Sokka being Sokka.


**Disclaimer: I still don't own them, after all this time. **

**A/N: This one took me a while to finish...I literally wrote the first half about a year before I ended up churning out the rest of it. Just some random fun; hope you enjoy it. **

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**Practice**

His gold eyes flashed. Each breath he took rasped with excitement. His feet thumped steadily on the ground as he paced back and forth, hands clenching and unclenching. With each step, fire swirled around his palms, making the air shimmer with heat.

"No one will stand in my way now. _No one!_ Villages, cities, even tiny towns will burn to the ground before my awesome force! Leveled to ashes! The Fire Nation will rule over the earth…perhaps someday we will even broach the spirit world! When the comet arrives, our might will be absolutely unmatched! Let each and every man, woman, and child shake with fear at the very sound of my name! It shall be written on all the books of history…no, of the gods themselves! _Fire Lord Ozai_! I will have _everything_ I want…after all, _who's going to stop me?_"

There was a long, heavy silence.

"Um, Aang? That's the part where you're supposed to say,_ 'I am!'_, in a loud and commanding voice."

"Sorry, Sokka. It's just way too weird when Zuko's being the Fire Lord."

Zuko's shoulders, which had been thrown back in a stiff set as he paced commandingly, slumped. "You mean I wasn't doing a good enough job?" His tone was a mixture of annoyance and disappointment.

"C'mon, Twinkletoes. He was trying to kill you for long enough, wasn't he? You can't pretend he's evil again, just for a little while?"

"Well," Aang turned toward Toph. "It doesn't help when you're all just standing there like an audience at Earth Rumble 6! Is that what you're going to be doing when I actually face the Fire Lord?" The Avatar looked frustrated. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because," Sokka said with a long-suffering expression. "The Avatar facing the Fire Lord is historical! This can't be just an ordinary fight…it has to be _epic!_" Sokka waved his hands exaggeratedly over his head.

"So you're _scripting_ it?" Aang almost looked pained. "You don't really think Fire Lord Ozai is going to follow directions, do you? This isn't like that stupid Ember Island play!"

"That's why I made the instructions for the Fire Lord really vague. Open to interpretation, you know? Instead of having actual lines, I just put, 'Fire Lord gives ominous and long-winded speech about world domination'."

"Wow Zuko, so you came up with that whole thing just now? Maybe you weren't doing so bad after all." Toph sounded impressed, but she was grinning teasingly. Zuko scowled at her from under his bangs. Like most of them, he hadn't yet broken the habit of giving Toph looks she couldn't see.

"Just think of it as practice, Aang. You should be thanking me." Sokka folded his arms proudly.

Aang snuck a look at Suki and Katara, who were leaning on a large boulder on the sidelines. Katara smiled and gave him a sympathetic look, while Suki jerked her head at Sokka, then clapped a hand eloquently to her forehead.

Sokka didn't notice. He was too busy gathering up several sheets of paper covered in dense writing and looking them over. "Well, if you can't manage it with Zuko, I guess _I_ could try being the Fire Lord. Just give me a few minutes to come up with a speech…hey Zuko, do you think you could make the fire for me?"

"Sokka, maybe this isn't the best way to practice." Aang could have kissed Katara right then, not that he didn't think about doing that at other times too. "Maybe Aang should meditate, or try practicing alone…?"

"And how is he going to get more prepared to fight a crazy Fire Lord by sitting and breathing?" Sokka smacked the rolled-up bundle of scripts against his palm and pointed them at Katara. "Look, all of you have gotten your chance to teach Aang. Now it's my turn."

"Um, Sifu Sokka?" Aang attempted flattery to see if he might be able to wheedle out of this. The look on Sokka's face immediately told him he'd made a big mistake.

Sokka's face lit up like someone had presented him with a lifetime supply of seal jerky. He looked like he wanted to break into a dance, and might have if Suki hadn't been there watching. "_Sifu_ Sokka? _Sifu?_ Oh man, I can't believe this. You guys all heard that, right? I'm Aang's teacher too now!" He looked around at all of them, as though considering asking them to swear in as witnesses.

Aang knew he was beaten. When Sokka got like this, there was nothing that could stop him. So he decided that as the Avatar, he should concede defeat with grace. After all, as Monk Gyatso had taught him, a sense of humor could soften the most grating of situations.

So Aang, every nerve in his body high-strung with the knowledge that every second was bringing him closer to the biggest fight of his life, forced a smile onto his face. He spun his staff and then bowed in traditional respect to Sokka, palms together. "I'd like to try again, if that's okay, Sifu?"

Sokka waved a hand in a grand, magnanimous gesture. "Of course, pupil Aang," he said in a deepened voice much like the one he'd used as Wang Fire. "I would be pleased to see how you improve."

Aang glanced over to see Toph giving him a thumbs-up, and Suki and Katara hiding giggles behind their hands. It made him feel much better. And then an idea started forming in his brain.

As carefully and seriously as he could, he asked, "Sifu Sokka, I think this would be a more realistic practice session if everyone was involved. I know I'll be facing the Fire Lord alone, but I'd like to be able to count on everyone's help." He smiled winningly at his audience, whose amusement had vanished abruptly.

Sokka, however, looked even more animated, if that was possible. "You're right, Aang. I don't have scripts for everyone though…but, the practice must go on!"

"It's okay, we'll manage," muttered Katara, coming over to stand beside Aang. Her expression made Aang briefly rethink his strategy of teasing, especially when Suki and Toph followed, looking equally disgruntled.

"Sorry," Aang whispered under his breath, ducking his head. "I thought maybe you guys could help me out…"

"Trust me, it was more fun just listening to you, Snoozles, and Sifu Hotman from the sidelines," grumbled Toph, folding her arms.

"I'm not really mad at _you_, Aang," Katara murmured. "I just can't believe my idiot of a brother sometimes…honestly, I thought seeing that stupid play would stop him from doing something like this…"

Suki shook her head. "You really shouldn't have called him Sifu Sokka, Aang. He'll never let that go. You just encouraged him."

"Good, good!" Sokka's excitement intruded on their whispered conversation. "See, I knew you guys could improvise! We _should _all have a hushed battle conference before the big fight, it really adds to the tension…" He started scribbling on one of his papers.

Aang tried not to grin at the shared expressions of sheer exasperation that swept around their gathering.

"Okay, so Aang will be himself, obviously." Sokka made a note on the top paper. "And if I'm Fire Lord Ozai this time, then—"

"What if I want to be Aang this time?" asked Toph. "I'd love a shot at that stupid, arrogant Fire Lord. Uh, no offense, Sifu Hotman."  
Zuko shrugged with a wry twist of his mouth.

Sokka frowned at Toph. "You can't be Aang, _Aang_ needs to be Aang. This practice is for him, anyway. And besides, no one else is going to be Aang on the day of the real battle." He looked pleased with his logic.

Toph snorted. "Okay, then I want to be Katara."

"_Excuse me?_" Katara sounded both shocked and indignant.

"Well Sugar Queen, as long as we're 'practicing' and being other people, I don't know why I shouldn't get to be someone else. You can be me if you want, just for today." Toph made the offer as if it was the most generous thing she'd ever given anyone.

Katara bristled slightly. "No thanks."

"Guys, guys, this is not the point of this practice!" interrupted Sokka, smacking the papers against his palm like it was a gavel he was using to call order. "We're trying to help Aang prepare for the greatest battle of his life!"

"Okay fine, then how about if I'm Suki. Sugar Queen can be the Fire Lord, for all I care."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean, Toph? I hope you aren't implying…"

Aang sighed, but quietly. He started a little when Zuko touched his shoulder lightly. Without changing expression, his firebending teacher murmured, "Think I should ask if I can be Sokka?"

Aang tried not to laugh, but the smothered snicker escaped anyway. And another glance at Zuko's impassive face conjured up the image of the serious firebender waving his arms in Sokka's exaggerated gestures, and that was too much. The Avatar burst out laughing, feeling some of the heavy tension in his stomach loosen a little. Zuko's expression had relaxed too at his laughter, and he looked oddly pleased with himself.

Despite the practice, Aang was no closer to knowing how he would face the Fire Lord when the day arrived. But he felt better all the same.  
Sokka glanced at the sheaf of papers in his hands, and then at Aang, whose shoulders were still shaking with laughter. He frowned.

"Huh. I really don't think that's in the script…"


End file.
